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  <section id="target-link-directories">
<span id="command:target_link_directories"></span><h1>target_link_directories<a class="headerlink" href="#target-link-directories" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">Added in version 3.13.</span></p>
</div>
<p>Add link directories to a target.</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">target_link_directories(</span><span class="nv">&lt;target&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">BEFORE</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="w">  </span><span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="no">INTERFACE</span><span class="p">|</span><span class="no">PUBLIC</span><span class="p">|</span><span class="no">PRIVATE</span><span class="o">&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">items1...</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="w">  </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="o">&lt;</span><span class="no">INTERFACE</span><span class="p">|</span><span class="no">PUBLIC</span><span class="p">|</span><span class="no">PRIVATE</span><span class="o">&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">items2...</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">...]</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Specifies the paths in which the linker should search for libraries when
linking a given target.  Each item can be an absolute or relative path,
with the latter being interpreted as relative to the current source
directory.  These items will be added to the link command.</p>
<p>The named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;target&gt;</span></code> must have been created by a command such as
<span class="target" id="index-0-command:add_executable"></span><a class="reference internal" href="add_executable.html#command:add_executable" title="add_executable"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_executable()</span></code></a> or <span class="target" id="index-0-command:add_library"></span><a class="reference internal" href="add_library.html#command:add_library" title="add_library"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">add_library()</span></code></a> and must not be an
<a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.html#alias-targets"><span class="std std-ref">ALIAS target</span></a>.</p>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PUBLIC</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PRIVATE</span></code> keywords are required to
specify the <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.html#target-command-scope"><span class="std std-ref">scope</span></a> of the items that follow
them. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PRIVATE</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PUBLIC</span></code> items will populate the
<span class="target" id="index-0-prop_tgt:LINK_DIRECTORIES"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../prop_tgt/LINK_DIRECTORIES.html#prop_tgt:LINK_DIRECTORIES" title="LINK_DIRECTORIES"><code class="xref cmake cmake-prop_tgt docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LINK_DIRECTORIES</span></code></a> property of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;target&gt;</span></code>.  <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PUBLIC</span></code> and
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE</span></code> items will populate the <span class="target" id="index-0-prop_tgt:INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../prop_tgt/INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES.html#prop_tgt:INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES" title="INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES"><code class="xref cmake cmake-prop_tgt docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_LINK_DIRECTORIES</span></code></a>
property of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;target&gt;</span></code> (<a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.html#imported-targets"><span class="std std-ref">IMPORTED targets</span></a> only
support <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE</span></code> items).
Each item specifies a link directory and will be converted to an absolute
path if necessary before adding it to the relevant property.  Repeated
calls for the same <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;target&gt;</span></code> append items in the order called.</p>
<p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">BEFORE</span></code> is specified, the content will be prepended to the relevant
property instead of being appended.</p>
<p>Arguments to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_link_directories</span></code> may use generator expressions
with the syntax <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">$&lt;...&gt;</span></code>. See the <span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)" title="cmake-generator-expressions(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake-generator-expressions(7)</span></code></a>
manual for available expressions.  See the <span class="target" id="index-1-manual:cmake-buildsystem(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.html#manual:cmake-buildsystem(7)" title="cmake-buildsystem(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake-buildsystem(7)</span></code></a> manual
for more on defining buildsystem properties.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>This command is rarely necessary and should be avoided where there are
other choices.  Prefer to pass full absolute paths to libraries where
possible, since this ensures the correct library will always be linked.
The <span class="target" id="index-0-command:find_library"></span><a class="reference internal" href="find_library.html#command:find_library" title="find_library"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">find_library()</span></code></a> command provides the full path, which can
generally be used directly in calls to <span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_link_libraries"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_link_libraries.html#command:target_link_libraries" title="target_link_libraries"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_link_libraries()</span></code></a>.
Situations where a library search path may be needed include:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Project generators like <span class="target" id="index-0-generator:Xcode"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../generator/Xcode.html#generator:Xcode" title="Xcode"><code class="xref cmake cmake-generator docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Xcode</span></code></a> where the user can switch
target architecture at build time, but a full path to a library cannot
be used because it only provides one architecture (i.e. it is not
a universal binary).</p></li>
<li><p>Libraries may themselves have other private library dependencies
that expect to be found via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">RPATH</span></code> mechanisms, but some linkers
are not able to fully decode those paths (e.g. due to the presence
of things like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">$ORIGIN</span></code>).</p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<section id="see-also">
<h2>See Also<a class="headerlink" href="#see-also" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:link_directories"></span><a class="reference internal" href="link_directories.html#command:link_directories" title="link_directories"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">link_directories()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_compile_definitions"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_compile_definitions.html#command:target_compile_definitions" title="target_compile_definitions"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_compile_definitions()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_compile_features"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_compile_features.html#command:target_compile_features" title="target_compile_features"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_compile_features()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_compile_options"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_compile_options.html#command:target_compile_options" title="target_compile_options"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_compile_options()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_include_directories"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_include_directories.html#command:target_include_directories" title="target_include_directories"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_include_directories()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-1-command:target_link_libraries"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_link_libraries.html#command:target_link_libraries" title="target_link_libraries"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_link_libraries()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_link_options"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_link_options.html#command:target_link_options" title="target_link_options"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_link_options()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_precompile_headers"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_precompile_headers.html#command:target_precompile_headers" title="target_precompile_headers"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_precompile_headers()</span></code></a></p></li>
<li><p><span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_sources"></span><a class="reference internal" href="target_sources.html#command:target_sources" title="target_sources"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_sources()</span></code></a></p></li>
</ul>
</section>
</section>


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